1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system and method that informs users of changes in geographically bound rules. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method that retrieves geographically bound rules corresponding to a GPS-determined region occupied by the user as the user moves from one region to another.
2. Description of the Related Art
In today's global marketplace, employees or other business professionals are moving from one place to another for a variety of reasons. Modern transportation, such as airplanes, automobiles, and mass transit, allow business professionals to travel vast distances in a short amount of time. The ability to quickly move these vast distances allows business professionals to conduct business in a wide variety of locations, increasing the business's profit opportunities and allowing business professionals to meet with a wide assortment of people in order to help the business increase revenues and, in many cases, decrease operating expenses. The global marketplace allows business professionals to meet with foreign suppliers, vendors, clients, and customers faster and more frequently than in prior generations.
Increasing business professionals' abilities to travel quickly in the global marketplace is, however, not without challenges. One challenge faced by business professionals is the different laws applied by various governments. For example, antitrust concerns in some countries prohibit certain types of discussions that may be deemed anti-competitive, especially if a particular business has a certain level of dominance in that country or region. These same discussions may, however, be perfectly legal and acceptable in a different country either because of the laws of that country or because of the business's lack of dominance in that country.
Another challenge facing business professionals are restrictions placed on some business professionals due to travel documents, such as visas and passports, when traveling to a different country. Some countries may prohibit visitors traveling with certain travel documents to visit a particular area of the country or engage in a certain type of activity. For example, a visitor traveling on a student visa may be restricted to a geographic region surrounding a college or university that the visitor is attending. Other countries may prohibit visitors from traveling in areas deemed sensitive due to concerns such as national security or terrorism.
A further challenge facing business professionals are business, or organizational rules, that apply when the professional is in a particular geographic region. For example, because costs vary considerably between regions, the organization may have different spending limits, per diem amounts, approved hotels, and the like. Other rules, such as payment to government officials, gratuity amounts, and the like may also be considerably different from one location to the next. An awareness and understanding of the various national laws, travel restrictions, and organizational rules may be a daunting task, especially when a business professional is rapidly moving from one geographical location to the next.